Daria wins the chance to hang out with a teen magazine editor named Val who tries (and fails) at being in touch with today's youth.
This episode provides examples of:
- Adults Dressed as Children: Val, in an effort to seem younger and appeal to (and wring spending money out of) her demographic. Even Quinn points it out.
- Age-Inappropriate Dress: Val. She dresses not too differently from the Fashion Club. Quinn lampshades it.Didn't she seem a little old for that outfit?
- Blatant Lies: Val keeps claiming that she wants to blend and go unnoticed. The local reporters say Val's office called them to announce her arrival.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Val is the founder and editor of "Val" magazine and while initially written off as simply a clueless moron obsessed with the delusion she's still a teenager, she's also a shameless egomaniac trying to co-opt and exploit all aspects of teen life in modern America for the sake of shilling her magazine and making money.
- Drama Queen: Val makes everything in Lawndale High all about her, even taking over a class just to give a Q&A about her magazine.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Jake's enraged reaction to Val's description of "edgy" is on the nose because of how stupid it was.
- Dumb Blonde: Played with on Val's part. On one hand, she's a successful figure in the magazine world and is very media savvy; on the other hand, she behaves in a ditzy manner and is clueless about the audience she's reaching out to. On the other, other hand, she's savvy and shameless enough to hone in on any new facet of Teen Culture she stumbles upon and is willing to exploit it at the drop of a hat, showing a sort of passive-aggressive ruthlessness buried underneath that deluded attitude.
- She does insist on the networks knowing that she's blonde now, so there's every chance her hair's just dyed in another attempt to look younger.
- Embarrassed by a Child: Val, head of a major national teen magazine, immediately ran off to change outfits after getting a critique by Sandi, the president of the Fashion Club of Lawndale High.
- Everyone Has Standards: Kevin and Brittany may not be the brightest bulbs in Lawndale, but, as mentioned below, even they are baffled that Val would try to claim that she's younger than she is.
- Heel Realization: When Daria offers a scathing speech about "edgy", one can see Quinn looking very depressed. What makes her popular, makes her just another teenage face in the crowd to be exploited.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Daria at the end, when Val publishes a story called "The Story of D" where she calls her an "anti-teen", Daria is fine with it and offers a rare smile.Hey, I'm jiggy with it.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Val initially thinks Daria is some kind of "Popular, cool, and smart" teenager because it's trendy, but everyone keeps making confused expressions whenever Val asks if Daria is "cool". When she meets the Fashion Club, Val says out loud "Finally some popular people!". All her behavior patterns and meltdowns throughout the episode imply that Val always wanted to be the popular girl back in her youth and now is trying to live her frustrations through her magazine.
- I Reject Your Reality: Val lives in a fantasy world where people believe her when she tells them she's 28. Not only does she look older than Helen, but not even Kevin and Brittany are dumb enough to believe her.Val: Not bad for a 28-year-old, huh?Daria: 28?!Val: I know, most people think I'm like 16. When Drew and I go clubbing, I'm always the one who gets carded.Daria: These clubs, are they very, very dark?
- I Take Offense to That Last One: In all of Daria's insults to Val, the only one she takes real offense to is being called "thirty-something."
- It's All About Me: Despite Val claiming that she wants to be treated like everyone else, she keeps doing everything about herself, including stealing Mr. O'Neill's class out of boredom and turning it into a Q&A panel.
- The Man Is Sticking It to the Man: Val is always talking about being "edgy" and cutting edge, Daria is having none of that.As far as I can make out, 'edgy' occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy- not to mention the spending money- out of the "youth culture". So they come up with this fake concept of seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan.
- Noodle Incident: Val's phone call outside of Ms. Li's office about her boyfriend cheating on her, which leads to her all but outright saying she was once pregnant.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Even Kevin and Brittany are smart enough to realize Val is lying through her teeth about only being 28.
- Older Than They Look: Invoked by Val, who claims she's 28 and that people sometimes mistake her for being 16. Daria, Kevin, and Brittany are all shocked at how this woman genuinely thinks she can pass for a 28-year-old when she looks older than Daria's 40-something-year-old mother.Val: Whenever Drew and I go clubbing, I'm always the one to get carded.Daria: These clubs, are they very, very dark?
- Just to emphasize this, Val is drawn with age marks around her eyes and mouth that not even Helen, who's in her mid-forties, has.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: By the end of the episode Daria finally snaps at Val and tells her off for being a domineering, manipulative blowhard.Daria: What do you mean by pushing yourself as some kind of role model when all you care about is how you look and what celebrities you know? Aren't teenage girls screwed up enough without you foisting your shallow values on them and making their lousy self-images worse?Val: Now look here, missy. I mean, what are you, Dar, a teacher? I am a role model! I'm in touch with the teen within.Daria: Why don't you get in touch with the 30-something without? Your readers aren't going to be teenagers forever, unlike you. A real role model would be teaching them stuff they can use.
- Sassy Black Woman: Invoked in-universe. After Jodie makes an astute observation about the mindless content published in Val's magazine, Val responds by saying Jodie has "Great sassy energy" without bothering to actually acknowledge anything Jodie said. This covertly cements Val is not only self-deluded and egomaniacal but also slightly racist.
- Take That!: To the editor and founder of the now-defunct Jane Magazine, Jane Pratt.
- Totally Radical: Val uses slang like "jiggy" and "whack" in an effort to seem younger. It's exactly as painful as it sounds.
- Villainous Breakdown: At first, Val arrives in a yellow-blue outfit because she didn’t know the “Colors of the School Day”note was a made-up trend. Then Sandi presents herself as the president of the Fashion Club and informs her that primary colors are out of trend. Val has a freak-out and furiously calls her assistant for an emergency outfit while running to the bathroom.
- This continues at Ms. Li's office, where Val receives a call from her boyfriend, telling her that he cheated on her with a starlet and got her pregnant. Val has to repeat to herself the mantra "I'm Val as in VAL" to try to keep her cool in front of Ms. Li and Daria, and then interrupts the meeting to go call her boyfriend again and insult him some more. All this while Daria and Ms. Li can still hear her through the door.
- You Keep Using That Word: In addition to being Totally Radical, Val keeps using words like "Jiggy" to describe stuff to others, despite people not really understanding what she means. In the end, Jake never understands what "edgy" is supposed to mean in general.
